The Weight of Blood (25)

“Halloween in May”

Michael: Hey, man, why don’t you introduce yourself to our listeners?

Rashad Young: Hey, what’s up. My name is Rashad Young.

Michael: And you are?

Rashad: I’m the guy who recorded the pencils being thrown in Maddy’s hair.

Tanya: Ah! The mystery man comes forward.

Rashad: Living around all them racist assholes, it wasn’t safe for me to tell anybody. Especially after everything that happened. They would’ve pointed the finger at me and strung me up.

Michael: So what made you press record?

Rashad: Two weeks before everything went down, there was a shooting of an unarmed Black kid caught on video in Greenville. BLBP organized a huge protest down to the mayor’s office. The marshals came and tried to break it up, but it got ugly, and businesses started burning. Yeah, the cops got fired, but if they hadn’t caught it on video, they would’ve got away with it. I guess I thought that I should start recording things that happened in Springville too. It’s like, unless we had proof, people wouldn’t believe the fucked-up shit we went through. I just didn’t think I would catch something happening so soon.

Michael: Walk us through a little of the race relations in Springville.

Rashad: Man, we lived parallel lives, never intersecting unless it’s school or sports. White kids hung out with white kids, Black kids with Black kids, except for the few who were stuck in the sunken place. Both of my sisters have natural hair, and they were always being made fun of a lot. So, when I saw it happening to Maddy . . . it was just . . . fucked up, you know? Jules and them, they were always a bunch of assholes. I know you ain’t supposed to talk bad about the dead, but it’s true.

Tanya: What I really want to know is what happened when you turned off the camera before the earthquake? And why did you turn it off?

Rashad: I didn’t turn it off. Maddy did it.

Michael: Did what exactly?

Rashad: I was recording, and my phone just started spazzing out. The screen went black right as the lights blew. And that shit was no earthquake. The ground didn’t move at all. But just like prom, she, I guess . . . did it with her mind or something.

Michael: Do you remember what you did the rest of that day?

Rashad: I went home early. Man, I was crazy sick. Later, when I went to get a new phone, I saw the video had uploaded to my cloud. I had kinda forgot about it.

Michael: Were you also the one who posted the photos from Halloween in May?

Rashad: Nah. No one knows who did that. Most of us weren’t even there.

May 16, 2014

Senior week at Springville High always landed three weeks before prom and was considered a going-away party for the outgoing class.

Monday—Pajama Day, in which Jules came in a satin nighty.

Tuesday—Switch Day, where the girls dressed in football jerseys and the boys wore field hockey skirts.

Wednesday—Pizza Day, during which Sal personally delivered dozens of pizzas to the caf.

Thursday—Karaoke Day. Jason rapped a Drake song.

Friday was the infamous Halloween in May pep rally, the only event the entire student body was allowed to attend, where seniors came in dressed in old costumes and competed for silly prizes like a coupon for water, or a kiss from a football captain.

Wendy wanted to be salt and pepper shakers for the couples category. Kenny had convinced her that eggs and bacon were a better fit. They lined up with the rest of the couples in the hall outside the gym, waiting to be called.

It wasn’t an official pep rally for any specific sport, more of a rally to cheer seniors on toward the next phase in their lives. The moment felt bittersweet to Kenny. This would be the last time his school would root for him as a fellow student. Would he ever step into this gym again? Was there a reason to?

“Hey, have you guys seen Jules?” Charlotte asked, dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, Chris her Big Bad Wolf.

Wendy straightened her bacon tip, searching with a frown. “She said Brady was dropping off her costume. But she should be here by now.”

“Do you know what she’s going as?”

“No clue. But you know Jules. Probably trying to make an entrance.” Wendy turned to Kenny, beaming. “How do I look?”

Kenny grinned, kissing the tip of her nose. “You’re a cute piece of pork.”

Wendy’s smile took up half of her face. “And you look EGGceptional!”

After the junior varsity cheerleaders performed a farewell routine, each couple was called to the center of the gym and scored by applause from the audience in the bleachers. Kenny scanned the crowd for Kali, wishing she’d at least try to be more outgoing, for his sake. Looked like most of the Black students had cut the assembly. But at the far corner sat a fidgeting Maddy. A rare sighting, as she skipped almost anything that didn’t have to do with class. Keeping her distance from the other students, she gripped her sweater, eyes darting to Coach Bates standing by the door, as if on guard. Kenny couldn’t help noticing how desperate Maddy seemed to escape.

As the rally wrapped up, there was still no sign of Jules. Wendy kept searching behind them, growing concerned.

“Okay, everybody.” Kayleigh, their emcee for the event, read off a folded scrap of paper passed to her. “Next up, and our last couple is . . . uh, Maddy Washington and her . . . daddy?”

“What?” Kenny uttered.